Shane Helms opens up about weight limits in pro wrestling.
Former two-time WWE Cruiserweight Champion Shane "Hurricane" Helms is putting the final touches on his 20+ year career in the sport of professional wrestling. Helms is currently working as a backstage producer for WWE and is a helping hand in various parts of the company including the 205 Live brand. Helms shared during an interview with Mirror Sport that he has produced a few matches for 205 Live thus far and touched on how he thinks weight classes do not hold up in wrestling anymore. He used Rey Mysterio and Finn Balor as examples of guys who are under the 205 weight limit that have found success on the main roster.
"Yeah, I've produced a couple of matches for 205 Live already. It's just another show. It's still under the WWE banner. It's just something else for the Network, more content for the Network, another avenue for guys to show their skills and get seen and then go up to the quote-on-quote 'main roster'. The Cruiserweight division, especially now is completely separate because of 205 Live. But I don't know if a weight class really holds up anymore in pro wrestling." He said. "It's difficult. When you've got guys like Rey Mysterio and Finn Balor and all these smaller guys and they're on the main roster and doing fantastic, it's kinda like 'why does this other division even exist?' You know, 'what’s the difference?', so it's kinda hard to define, and anytime something's hard to define, that's going to be confusing to a casual viewer. So I'm not sure what the solution is. I kinda felt that at one time myself, I was the Cruiserweight Champion and I was wrestling Rey Mysterio, who was the World Heavyweight Champion. I outweighed Rey by about 40 lbs I believe at the time and I remember going, 'Are weight classes necessary anymore?' I'm in the Cruiserweight division and I tower over Rey, I'm about six inches taller, like I said 'I outweigh him by 40 lbs and he's the World Heavyweight Champion. He has the big gold Ric Flair belt. I had the little Cruiserweight Title, and I was like, 'This is kinda pointless at this point. You know what I mean?'"
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, Helms is going to be focusing on his duties with WWE and finishing up the remaining dates he has on the independent scene. He said that it is tough to step away from the ring and did not shy away when stating that there is a bit of ego involved in the decision because being a wrestler is something that he has wanted to do since he was a toddler.
"It's definitely tough, you know. It's sort of an ego thing for sure, but wrestling is all I've ever wanted to do since I was three-years-old. Since I started watching television, my earliest memory of television is watching professional wrestling. I had other opportunities to do other things in my life; I was in collegiate programs when I was 11-years-old. All my teachers were trying to make me go that way and use my brain in different areas." Helms shared. "But I just wanted to be a pro-wrestler, it's all I wanted. The saving grace is that I'll still be involved in the business and I'm not walking away completely. But when it finally comes to the point where I realize that I'm not going to wrestle anymore, that's still going to be a tough pill to swallow."
The likes of Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Bruce Prichard and Dana Warrior have joined WWE in a backstage role of some fashion over the past several weeks and months. Shane Helms is also an alumni of Fightful and to check out some of the podcasts that he recorded here on the site, click here.
